Jeff Gordon mentors the player in the new "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" career mode that has a completely revamped 3D menu interface. With Jeff's help, the player signs contracts, builds their reputation, and earns performance points by winning in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (PlayStation 2 only), NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. One new feature in NASCAR 09 is "Own The Track". This allows the player to compete against friends or other gamers and own all 22 tracks in the Sprint Cup Series. Also new is the new "Sprint Driver Challenge", in which the player complete challenges in all sorts of situations to earn rep and performance points. In the game there are two driving styles available for the player to choose from: Normal and Pro. The Pro driving style is more suited for experienced players, while the Normal mode is better suited for beginners. The game also allows the driver to build his own car from the ground up. Over one million setup combinations are available to make the car handle better and run faster.
Also new to NASCAR 09 was the Paint Booth Customization Feature,[6] similar to Papyrus' NASCAR games. For only the second time in the franchise's history (first appearing in EA's NASCAR Sim Racing for PC), a car customization template was available online which created endless possibilities for personalization. Players were only able to see their friends' custom-designed car skins when racing against them online, not non-friends. The online connectivity of Paint Booth allowed players to download a car template from the EA Sports website and import it into editing programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, giving users a multitude of design options. They could then upload those images into the game and show off their dream machine on the track. After EA lost the NASCAR license, the Paint Booth application was removed from the EA Sports website.[7]